Georg Baselitz

Baselitz began turning figures upside down in 1969 to make viewers focus on painting as an object rather than on narrative representation. One early example tied to that shift is The Wood on its Head.

Baselitz was born Hans-Georg Kern in 1938 in what became East Germany, then moved to West Germany as a young artist. That postwar German context shaped the rough, confrontational tone of works such as his 1960s Hero paintings.

His early 1960s work caused scandal in West Germany because of its raw imagery and direct handling of the body. The Big Night Down the Drain, from 1962 to 1963, is one of the works often mentioned in that context.

Baselitz is usually discussed as a major German Neo-Expressionist, though his brushwork also has links to postwar expressive painting. His upside-down figures from 1969 onward gave him a signature device distinct from American Abstract Expressionism.